If Things Were Different
by soccerchick0814
Summary: Imagine what Harry's life would have been like if his parents had survived Voldemort's attack. The threat of Voldemort still exists, but this time Harry doesn't face it alone...
1. The Fateful Halloween Night

Disclaimer- I do not own these characters

_Disclaimer- I do not own these characters. JKR does. And the first scene of this chapter is taken almost directly from DH, but with a few changes of course ;)_

Chapter #1- That Fateful Halloween

The night wet and windy, two children dressed as pumpkins waddling across the square, and the shop windows covered in paper spiders, all the tawdry Muggle trappings of a world in which they did not believe… and he was gliding along with that sense of purpose and power and rightness in him that he always knew on these occasions… not anger… that was for weaker souls than he… but triumph, yes… he had waited for this, he had hoped for it…

"Nice costume, Mister!"

He saw the small boy's smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his painted face then the child turned and ran away… beneath the robe he fingered the handle of his wand… one simple movement and the child would never reach his mother… but unnecessary, quite unnecessary…

And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last, the Fidelius Charm broken, though they did not know it yet… and he made less noise than the dead leaves slithering along the pavement as he drew level with the dark hedge, and stared over it…

They had not drawn the curtains, he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall, black-haired man asleep on the sofa in his glasses, holding the small black-haired boy in his blue pajamas…

A door opened and the mother entered, smiling down on her husband and son, her long, dark red hair falling over her face. She lifted her son up and carried him out of the room, leaving her husband sleeping peacefully.

The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but the Potters did not hear. His white hand pulled out the wand beneath his cloak and pointed it at the door, which opened silently. James Potter did not stir… he was tempted to kill the man then and there as he slept, harmless, but he pulled himself away… the boy was his first priority, then he could deal with the father. He must remain focused…

He could hear Lily Potter singing her son to sleep, not knowing what danger was approaching her… but as long as she was sensible she, at least, had nothing to fear.

She spun around when she heard him enter the room, probably expecting to see her husband. At the sight of him she screamed, dropped her son into the cot behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead…

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside you silly girl… stand aside now…"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead…"

"This is my last warning…"

"Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not Harry! Not Harry! Please—I'll do anything…"

"Stand aside—stand aside girl…"

He was growing impatient now. Normally he would have killed her instantly… but what threat did she pose? Besides… Snape had begged him to spare her. He understood why—she was quite attractive for a muggleborn. So he stunned the hysterical woman and she fell away from the cot, leaving the path to the boy clear.

The child had not cried all this time: he could stand, clutching the bars of his cot, and he looked up into the intruder's face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak.

He pointed his wand very carefully into the boy's face: he wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: it had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones' whining in the orphanage—

"Avada Kedavra!"

And then he broke: he was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away… far away…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

James Potter awoke to the sound of his son's crying. He yawned and stretched, wondering what was the matter, until he saw the front door standing ajar… that couldn't be right…

"Lily?" he yelled up the stairs. There was no answer. He was just lifting himself off the sofa when he heard the two words that would haunt him for the rest of his life coming from upstairs.

"No!" he shouted, snatching his wand off of the coffee table and sprinting to the source of the noise. It couldn't be true… the Fidelius Charm was in place, Peter was in hiding, and he knew that his friend would never, ever betray them. Would he?

His question of Peter's loyalty was erased from his mind as soon as he entered Harry's room. He pointed his wand in every corner, waiting for Lord Voldemort to jump out at him… but he was nowhere in sight.

Harry was screaming in his cot, but he seemed unharmed. Lily, on the other hand, lay lifeless on the floor. The killing curse must have been pointed at her. But then where had Voldemort gone?

James knelt down next to Lily, tears pouring down his face, and gathered her in his arms. He cursed himself for being asleep, unable to protect the love of his life. And now she was…

She stirred. He nearly dropped her in surprise.

"Lily? Lily are you alive?" he asked desperately, his heart pounding at this little glimmer of hope. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh my gosh Lily, you scared me so much," he moaned, tears still streaming down his face. "What happened?"

She was shaking. He tightened his hold around her. "It's okay, we're okay now," he assured her.

"It- it was him James. The charm was br-broken. He came into the room and I dropped Harry into his bed, and I- I begged him for mercy. He kept telling me to get out of his way. He didn't want to kill me James, he only wanted Harry. So he stunned me and then…"

"He stunned you? Why wouldn't he have just killed you?"

"I don't know James. He was only interested in Harry," she said. "I- I tried my best to protect him, but I couldn't. I didn't even have my wand…"

"I know, I know, it's okay," he whispered, stroking her hair. "But I heard him perform the killing curse, I know I did. I thought he had killed you."

"It must have been at Harry," she choked. "I can't remember anything after he stunned me."

"But Harry's fine," James said, letting his hold on Lily go and getting up to comfort his son, who was still crying. He gathered Harry in his arms. "How can he be fine?"

Lily shakily stood up and went to see for herself. Harry stopped crying at the sight of his mother and father looking down at him.

"But what's this James?" she asked, brushing Harry's bangs to the side. There was a thin lighting-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "He didn't have this before."

"I don't know," James replied, thoroughly confused. "But I do know that it's not safe for us here anymore. We need to go see Dumbledore."

_Author's Note: Okay, so I started this story almost five years ago under a different name. But looking back, it really wasn't all that good, seeing as I was 11 years old at the time. So I've decided to just rewrite the whole thing, completely change the characters and the plot to fit with all the information gathered from the series (when I started writing, there was no prophecy and no Horcruxes). So I hope you like it, and please please please review!!_


	2. Dumbledore's Theory

Chapter #2- Dumbledore's Theory

James and Lily sat silently in Dumbledore's office, watching him pace back and forth in front of them, muttering to himself. Harry slept peacefully in his mother's arms. Every once and a while James would glance over at Lily, wondering if they should say something, but she would shake her head no. Dumbledore was obviously trying to figure out an explanation for the events that had occurred that night.

They had apparated to the gates of Hogwarts merely 15 minutes ago and immediately rushed to Dumbledore's office, ignoring the questioning looks that the portraits and students were giving them.

"James. Lily. What are you doing here?" he said with surprise, looking up from the letter he was writing when they burst into his office. "You aren't supposed to leave your house. What happened?"

James looked over at Lily, but she seemed to shaken to speak.

"He came," James answered solemnly. Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"And you're all okay? Harry is alive?"

"He's fine," James replied. "We're all fine."

Dumbledore quickly conjured two chairs and motioned for them to sit. "Please, explain to me what happened. And don't leave out a single detail."

Lily still did not speak, she just rocked Harry back and forth in her arms.

"Well I was asleep in the living room with Harry, and Lily came in to take him up to bed," James began, wondering how well he could tell the story if he hadn't even been awake. "Apparently right after that, Voldemort snuck into the house and confronted Lily in Harry's room. She tried to shield Harry from him and pleaded with him to kill her instead. But he was only interested in Harry, so he stunned her to get her out of his way."

James paused at this point to see Dumbledore's reaction. He didn't seem very surprised that Voldemort had not killed Lily and was only interested in going after a harmless baby boy. James furrowed his brows in confusion, but continued on with his story.

"I woke up downstairs to the sound of Harry crying and saw that the front door was open. I knew something was wrong. That's when I heard Voldemort cast the killing curse. I ran straight upstairs. Harry was in his bed screaming, and Lily was lying on the floor. I-I thought he had killed her. But when she woke up she said he had only stunned her."

"So the killing curse must have been cast at Harry," Dumbledore said, standing up and beginning to pace.

"Well, you'd think so… but Harry's fine, so something must have gone wrong. Maybe he… missed?" James offered, knowing how stupid it sounded.

"Lord Voldemort does not miss," Dumbledore said shortly. He continued with his pacing and began muttering to himself.

James and Lily sat quietly, waiting for him to offer some sort of explanation. After a few minutes he came to the other side of his desk and looked down at Harry. He brushed the small boy's hair to the side and traced the fresh scar with his finger. Dumbledore nodded solemnly—the scar seemed to have proven something to him. He returned to his seat and put his face in his hands, sighing wearily.

"Well?" James said impatiently. Lily shot him a disapproving look.

Dumbledore looked up at them. "I'm afraid that we can never know for sure what happened tonight. I do, however, have a theory."

"Let's hear this theory then."

"Lord Voldemort came to your house tonight with the sole intention of killing Harry. He nearly succeeded. You heard him cast the killing curse, James, and it was directed at Harry."

"But how…?"

"I think that Harry survived the killing curse because he was protected by a magic so powerful that even Voldemort does not understand it."

James and Lily exchanged confused looks. "The only protection we had up was the Fidelius Charm, and obviously that didn't work out."

"I am not talking about a type of magic that you can conjure with a spell," Dumbledore explained. "Harry was protected by something much more powerful than that. He was protected by love."

"Love?" James exclaimed with complete surprise. He had not had a clue what Dumbledore was going to say, but he had not been expecting this.

"Yes, love. The oldest and most underestimated form of magic. My belief is that when Lily was willing to give up her life to save her son, she put a protective enchantment around him that Voldemort could not penetrate, even with the killing curse."

James looked over at his wife. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stroked Harry's head. James grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and she smiled at him.

"Wait... there's still something I don't understand," James said. "Even if love protected Harry from the killing curse, what happened to Voldemort?"

"The curse rebounded onto him," Dumbledore said simply, as though stating the weather.

"So he's dead?!" James gasped, hardly daring to believe it.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I am not fool enough to believe that Lord Voldemort is gone for good. But I do believe that his powers were broken, and we probably won't have to deal with him for a good while now."

James and Lily contemplated this newfound information. James looked down at his little son, amazed that he was able to break the powers of the most evil wizard of all time.

"So I suppose we can correctly assume that Sirius was the spy?" Dumbledore asked, breaking the silence.

"No!" James said, looking outraged. Dumbledore seemed confused.

"James, I know he was your best friend, but he was your secret keeper, and the charm was broken…"

"No he wasn't," Lily interjected, finally speaking up. "We changed at the last minute. Sirius wasn't the secret keeper."

"Then who was?"

Lily looked over at James. He looked very upset. She knew how much the idea of one of his best friends betraying him hurt him.

"It was Peter," Lily answered. Dumbledore looked surprised. "It was Sirius' idea. We thought it was the perfect bluff. Voldemort would obviously assume that we would choose Sirius, but who would think that we would make quiet, powerless little Peter our secret keeper? We thought it was a good idea."

"It doesn't mean he was the spy," James added. "Voldemort could have tortured the information out of him."

Lily caught Dumbledore's eye, and knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. It was too unlikely for Voldemort to have figured out that he was the secret keeper and found his hiding place in that short amount of time. But James refused to believe that one of his fellow Marauders would betray him.

They all sat in silence for a few moments, absorbing all the new information they had taken in. Finally, Dumbledore stood up.

"I should probably alert the Ministry as to what happened. They'll probably be wondering…" He was interrupted by the sound of an owl pecking on his window. He opened it up to let it in, and removed the scroll from it's leg.

After a few seconds of reading he said, "Never mind. They seem to have figured it out on their own. Apparently your neighbor, Bathilda Bagshot, informed them that something was going on when she heard explosions… they say there was quite a bit of damage done to your house, and the Muggles are all swarming around to see what happened. The Ministry seems to be under the impression that you're all dead… that won't do… and, oh no…"

"What?" James and Lily asked curiously.

"It's Sirius. They've got him under arrest."

_Author's Note: Yay. Done chapter 2! So, no reviews yet... that's pretty discouraging. I would greatly appreciate it if someone did review. Ideas, criticism, compliments, whatever. I'd just like to know that people are reading. PLEASE REVIEW_


	3. Reunions and Explanations

"Arrested

Chapter #3- Reunions and Explanations

"Arrested?!" James exclaimed. "What for?"

"The letter doesn't say," Dumbledore replied, shaking his head in confusion. "But I'd better go clear this up. If everyone thinks the three of you are dead and that Sirius was your secret keeper… well, the results won't be good."

"We'll come with you," James said automatically.

"No, the three of you have been through quite enough for tonight."

"Then Lily and Harry can go home and I'll come with you," James insisted.

"I'm sorry James, but I can't let you do that."

"Sirius is my best friend!" he shouted in frustration.

"James, please," Lily pleaded. He looked over at his wife and son and realized that he could not leave them alone after what they had just been through together. He nodded in understanding and turned back to Dumbledore, waiting for instruction.

"Good. Now that we've got that settled, we need to figure out somewhere safe for you to go until this mess is cleared up."

"What do you mean? We'll just go home," James said.

"Apparently your house suffered quite a bit of damage during the attack. Nothing that can't be fixed, I assume, but it's probably in no state for you to be returning there just yet. Besides, the Fidelius Charm is no long in effect, so you won't be safe there. You may have broken Voldemort's powers, but his Death Eaters are still out there, and they may want revenge."

"How about Sirius'?" Lily suggested. "That house has every possible security charm around it."

Dumbledore contemplated this suggestion momentarily, then nodded in acceptance. They all stood up to leave.

"Wait," Dumbledore said, rummaging through his drawers. He pulled out James' invisibility cloak. "Put this on. Just in case."

It was a bit awkward fitting two full grown adults and a baby beneath the cloak, but they managed. James, who was quite tall, had to crouch down so that their feet would not be showing. Dumbledore led the way out of the school.

James looked around at all the familiar sights of the building that had been his second home for seven years of his life. He figured he probably knew this school better than almost anyone, thanks to the many nights he had spent exploring the halls with his friends. He could hardly believe how much he had changed since his school years, back when his biggest concerns were avoiding detention, winning Quidditch matches and convincing Lily Evans to go out with him. He missed the carefree days of his youth.

"This is where I leave you," Dumbledore said as Lily and James removed the cloak. "Stay out of sight. I'll come by as soon as I can." And with that, he disappeared into the darkness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry sat on the floor of the kitchen in Grimmauld Place, watching his father pace back and forth in front of him. It had been over two hours since they left Hogwarts, and James was getting very impatient. Lily was rummaging through the cupboards, trying to find tea. She always made tea when she was worried or stressed. She'd been drinking a lot of it lately.

"James, you need to stop pacing. Sit down, have a cup of tea and something to eat," Lily said.

He acted as though he hadn't heard her. "I just don't get it. Peter can't have been the spy. We would have realized if he was working for Voldemort. Something like that is hard to hide."

Lily frowned. "He was acting strange when he visited. I thought he was just upset about the death of the McKinnons, but maybe it was something else."

"No," James said, shaking his head. "Peter was a Marauder. Marauders don't keep secrets from one another. And we most definitely do not betray one another. It has to be a mistake."

Lily did not bother to argue with her husband. She knew that until Peter was proven guilty, he would not doubt the loyalty of one of his best friends. Sometimes he was just too trusting for his own good. But she had trusted him too, she reminded herself. Looking back now though, she was definitely doubting that choice.

There was a knock on the door. James rushed over to answer it, while Lily scooped Harry off the ground and held him protectively in her arms.

"Moony!" James exclaimed when he opened the door, grasping his friend into a tight hug. He ushered him inside, and Remus hurried over to hug Lily and Harry as well.

"How did you know we were here?" Lily asked in surprise.

"Dumbledore sent me his patronus. It told me that you guys had been attacked, but that you were alright, and that you were staying here for now," he explained quickly. "So what happened?!"

The three of them sat at the table and James told the story for the second time that night. When he finished, Remus had is face in his hands. He took a few moments to absorb everything.

"So you switched your Secret Keeper to Peter?" he finally asked.

"Yes. It was Sirius' idea. We thought it was smart."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lily and James looked at each other uncomfortably, but neither answered him. A look of realization dawned on Remus' face.

"You thought I was the spy?" he asked quietly, hardly daring to believe it.

James couldn't bring himself to reply.

"We never really accepted the idea that one of our close friends was spying on us and passing the information onto Voldemort," Lily explained gently. "But when Sirius suggested we make the switch, he asked that we wouldn't tell you. James got upset, but in the end, Sirius convinced him. We never meant to hurt you… we just didn't want to take any chances."

Remus didn't speak for a long while. They sat in an uncomfortable silence. James couldn't meet his friend's eye, but stared at the table the entire time.

Finally, Remus let out a sigh. "I can't believe you didn't trust me. I would never, ever, do anything to hurt any one of you. I would die before I betrayed you. I hope you realize that."

All three of them were crying. James finally lifted his gaze from the table and looked into his friend's eyes. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry."

Remus wiped away his tears and grinned at him. "Well, I guess I can't be too mad at you. I mean, you remained as my friend even after you found out that I'm a werewolf, so I guess I can cut you a bit of slack here."

James laughed with relief.

"So how long do you think it's going to take Dumbledore to sort everything out?" Remus asked, changing the topic.

"Who knows," Lily said with a shrug. "They could be back any minute, or it could take hours. I think I need to go get some sleep though. It's been a long night."

James leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "You can go sleep in one of the guest rooms. I'll wait down here for news."

"Are you sure you don't need to come up as well? You barely got any sleep tonight either."

"I'll be fine. I don't really think I can sleep right now. There's too much going on in my head," James said.

Lily nodded in understanding and carried Harry upstairs. "Goodnight," she called over her shoulder.

"Goodnight."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hours passed with no news from Sirius or Dumbledore. James and Remus sat at the kitchen table, talking about their theories and fears, mostly just trying to distract one another from their worry.

Finally, the door creaked open. The two men jumped up from their seats in anticipation and pulled out their wands, just in case. It was Sirius.

He looked terrible. His robes were disheveled and his eyes were bloodshot. When he laid eyes on his best friend, however, he seemed to brighten. The look on his face has unmistakable—relief. It appeared as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he ran over to hug James.

"It's all my fault," he moaned through tears. "I thought you were dead. You, Lily, Harry. I thought you were all gone."

"It's okay, we're all okay," James assured him. Sirius did not seem to want to let him go, as though worried that if he did James might disappear.

"It's all my fault," he said again, letting go of James and taking a step back. He hung his head in shame.

James reached out and put his hands on Sirius' shoulders.

"Look at me," he said. Sirius lifted his head and looked into his best friend's eyes. "Don't you ever, ever, think that this is in any way your fault."

"I convinced you to make Peter your Secret Keeper," Sirius said, shaking his head. "If we had stuck to the original plan, this never would have happened."

"You had no way of knowing that this would happen. None of us did. And besides, we're all fine. You have no reason to be blaming yourself."

Sirius did not reply, but seemed to accept what James had said. He nodded, then turned to Remus, who had been watching the exchange between the two in silence.

Sirius hung his head in shame once again. "Remus," he said quietly. "I don't think I can ever apologize enough for doubting your loyalty. I just want you to know that I am extremely sorry for everything, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Remus did not answer, but instead stepped forward and embraced Sirius in a tight hug. Sirius' shoulders shook with sobs.

When they released one another, Remus said, "So tell us what happened."

They sat back down at the kitchen table. Sirius wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and began his story.

"I went to check on Peter to make sure he was settled in his hiding place. He wasn't there, and there was no sign of a struggle. I immediately went over to your place. As soon as I got there I knew what had happened. I went inside and tried to find you guys, to see if any of you were alive. There was no sign of you. I was sure you were dead, and your bodies either taken by Voldemort or buried in the rubble. The house is a disaster, mate."

James nodded his head solemnly and motioned for Sirius to continue.

"By this time, the Muggles were starting to gather outside the house. I figured the Ministry would be there soon, but I didn't want to stick around and deal with them. I wanted to find Peter."

"He found me before I found him," Sirius continued, "In a Muggle neighbourhood. There were tons of Muggles around. I had no idea why he wasn't hiding from me after what he had done. Instead, he cornered me, and started yelling for the whole street to hear about how I had betrayed you and Lily and Harry. I had no idea what he was going on about, so I pulled out my wand and was about to curse him. But he was too quick. He blew apart the whole street with his wand behind his back and then transformed into a rat."

James and Remus looked confused.

"He was making it look as though I was the guilty one. No one knew that you had switched Secret Keepers. So when the Aurors showed up, they thought I had sold you to Voldemort. The Muggle witnesses who survived the explosion told them that I had performed the curse that blew up the street, killing Peter in the process. So I was arrested."

"Son of a bitch," Remus said, shaking his head. James was silent with shock.

"Peter was the spy, James" Sirius said quietly. "I know you don't want to believe it, but it's the truth."

"I can't believe him," he said, shaking his head.

"He did always like to hang around people who were powerful," Sirius said bitterly.

"So what happened next?" Remus asked.

"They took me to the Ministry, and put me in one of the holding cells while they prepared to take me to Azkaban. It was that damn Barty Crouch in charge of it all. He was ready to send me there without a trial."

"Without a trail?!" Remus exclaimed. "Can they do that?"

"Apparently," Sirius said with a shrug. "Crouch is a power-hungry fool, obsessed with catching dark wizards, which in his mind, included me. When Dumbledore showed up, I could hear them arguing outside for nearly half an hour. Crouch did not want to hear the possibility that I was innocent. But Dumbledore can be quite persuasive, so he was finally allowed in to see me."

"I was confused as to why Dumbledore believed me. I thought that my case was hopeless. The only people who knew about the switch of the Secret Keepers were me, Peter, and you and Lily. No one would believe me, and its not like Peter would admit it. And I was sure you and Lily were dead. But then Dumbledore told me that the three of you had survived Voldemort's attack. I hardly dared to believe it. So I went on to tell him about how Peter had framed me and faked his own death."

Sirius stopped for a moment. "I had to tell him that Peter, that all of us, were illegal animagus. He seemed surprised, but didn't really press the matter. I'm sorry."

James and Remus shook their heads. "It doesn't matter." Remus said. "All that matters is that you're safe. We'll deal with that later."

Sirius nodded and continued. "Once I'd finished telling Dumbledore my side of the story, he left to go talk to the Aurors. About two hours later, Crouch opened the door, looking extremely bitter, and told me I was free to go. I came straight here."

"So what happened with you?" Sirius asked James. "How the bloody hell did the three of you survive an attack from Voldemort?"

James repeated the story again.

"Lily's love protected Harry from the killing curse?" Sirius said in disbelief. "How can that be possible?"

James shrugged. "I have no idea. That's just Dumbledore's theory. But Voldemort pointed that killing curse at someone and Harry's got a mysterious scar on his forehead. It's the only thing that kind of makes sense."

"And so the curse rebounded on Voldemort, but it didn't kill him?" Sirius asked, trying to make sure he understood clearly.

"Right," James said.

"This has been one strange night," Sirius said, shaking his head with wonder.

_Wow. That's my longest chapter yet. Took me a while to write, not that many people will really care. I would like to thank the three people who have reviewed this story so far. I really appreciate it, and would love it if more people would do the same. Any ideas you might have are absolutely welcome. Hope you enjoyed it __J__ PLEASE REVIEW!_


	4. The Prophecy

Chapter #4- The Prophecy

Lily woke the next morning to the feeling of the sun shining brightly on her face, and she rolled over contentedly without opening her eyes. She had just had the most terrible nightmare in which Voldemort broke the Fidelius charm and attacked her family. Miraculously, they all survived the attack and Voldemort disappeared. That didn't sound very nightmarish to her. Maybe it was just a dream then… but usually she considered anything with Voldemort in it a nightmare. These nightmares didn't usually have such happy endings.

Lily reached her arm across to the other side of the bed, trying to find James. He wasn't there. She opened her eyes and bolted up into a seated position. She wasn't at home. She was in a guest bedroom at Sirius' house. That meant that her dream, or nightmare, or whatever it was, was real?

"No," she whispered in disbelief. Voldemort, gone? Destroyed by his own rebounding killing curse, which had been directed at Harry? And Harry had survived because he was protected by her love? No, it couldn't be true. It was just too ridiculous.

She looked around the room. Harry was sitting up in his crib next to her bed, watching his mother curiously. Lily reached over and gathered him in her arms.

"Good morning sweetheart," she said, kissing his forehead gently. When she pulled away, she noticed a red mark between chunks of his hair. She pushed his bangs out of the way, revealing a thin, lightning bolt shaped scar.

"It's true," she murmured, tracing the scar with her finger. The reality of everything finally hit her, and she began to cry.

The bedroom door creaked slowly open and James crept in, carrying a mug of tea. "Oh," he said in surprise. "I thought you were still sleeping. I brought you a—" He stopped, noticing that she was crying. "Lily? What's the matter?"

She reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "It really happened, didn't it? It wasn't a dream?" she asked softly.

James put down the tea he was carrying, sat down next to his wife on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "It really happened," he said. "But we survived it. All of us. We're going to be okay now."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sirius!" Lily yelled excitedly when she, James and Harry finally ventured back downstairs. Sirius was at the stove, making breakfast, and Remus was (or had been, before Lily yelled) sleeping with his head on the kitchen table. Sirius grinned and the sight of her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"You're okay," Lily said, holding him at arm's length and looking him up and down.

"You're not so bad yourself," he said with a wink.

James smacked him over the head. "Stop hitting on my wife."

Sirius laughed out loud and wrapped his arm around James' shoulder. "Sorry, Lily dear," he said. "I didn't mean to lead you on. But James and I are exclusive."

James rolled his eyes. "We really need to get you a new girlfriend mate."

"I do not need a new girlfriend right now. And even if I did, I would not need help from you getting one, thank you very much."

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that Padfoot," James said.

"Excuse me? I'm not the one who spent 4 years trying to get a girl to go out with me," Sirius snapped.

"Well, I got her eventually didn't I?" James grinned, leaning over and planting a kiss on Lily's lips, who had taken over the cooking of breakfast while the two men bickered. "She was worth the trouble."

"Enough about our love lives," Sirius finally said. "Let me see my godson, the boy who destroyed Voldemort."

James handed Harry over to Sirius, who lifted him above his head and spun him around in the air. Harry laughed gleefully.

"So tell me what happened with you Sirius," Lily said, turning off the stove and dividing the bacon and eggs onto four plates. James helped her carry them to the table, and they all sat down together to eat.

Sirius repeated the story he had told James and Remus a few hours before. By the time he had finished it, Lily was in tears.

"How could Peter do this to us? The three of you were his best friends," she said, shaking her head in confusion.

"His only friends," Remus added quietly.

"Makes me wish we'd never defended that scrawny little git when the Slytherins were picking on him in first year. If we hadn't, he never would have started following us around everywhere, and we never would have let him into our group," Sirius said.

They sat in a thoughtful silence, each of them thinking of what their lives would be like if they had done something a bit differently.

"One day, we'll find him," James finally said. "And we'll make him pay for what he did to us."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

For the next two days, the five of them remained in Grimmauld Place, never venturing outside. They had no information as to what was going on in the wizarding world, so they did not know if leaving the protection of Sirius' house would put them in danger. So they remained inside, enjoying each other's company.

"So what are we going to do now?" Sirius asked when they were all gathered in the sitting room. Remus was bouncing Harry on his lap, Lily was curled up on an armchair reading, and James had just lost his third game of wizard's chess to Sirius.

"Find another game to play?" James suggested. "Because I'm really getting tired of losing."

"That's not what I meant," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, what are we going to do with our lives? We all joined the Order right out of school, but now that Voldemort is gone we should probably think about finding real jobs."

"Voldemort isn't gone," Lily corrected. "At least, not for good. His powers were just broken."

"Well, whatever. The point is, I don't think there's going to be much for us to do in the Order for a while now."

"This isn't like you Padfoot," James said, raising his eyebrows. "Thinking about the future, being responsible… What's gotten into you?"

Sirius shrugged.

"Well, my parents left me so much money that I'll never have to work a day in my life," James said with a grin.

"James!" Lily scolded. "You can't just spend the rest of your life sitting around doing nothing!"

"I know," he laughed. "I just don't know what I want to do with myself. Work for the Ministry? No. Teach? No. Become a profession chess player? Apparently not. At least with the amount of money I have, I've got time to figure out what I want to do and make sure it's something I enjoy."

"Didn't you use to want to play professional Quidditch? You had a few offers too, but you turned them down. Have you thought about asking if those positions are still available?" Remus asked.

"No," James said, shaking his head. "Being a professional Quidditch player comes with fame, attention, media—"

"All of which sound like things that you would enjoy very much," Sirius laughed.

"I have a feeling that our family is going to be getting enough media attention thanks to this whole Voldemort thing. I wouldn't want to make it worse."

"Alright, so we've established that Prongs is going to be an unemployed bum. What about you, Lily?"

Lily looked up from her book. "I don't know. I used to want to be a Healer, but it's not like I can do that now."

"Why not?" James asked.

"All the people entering the Healer training program would be coming right out of Hogwarts. I'd be so much older than all of them, and I've probably forgotten everything I learned at Hogwarts by now."

"Lily, you were top of our year in every subject, Head Girl… they'd be lucky to have someone like you in their program. I'm sure you just need to refresh your memory about what you learned in school and you'll be fine," Remus assured her.

"If you want to become a Healer, I support you 100," James said.

"Besides, someone needs to support James in his unemployment," Sirius added.

James glared at him. "What about you, Mr. Smart-Ass?"

"I'm thinking about running for Minister of Magic," Sirius said with a grin.

Remus rolled his eyes. "But seriously though, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"I guess that makes two of us," James said.

"At least you guys have options," Remus sighed. "Nobody out there is going to hire a werewolf."

"Don't worry about it Moony," Sirius said with a grin. "You can just freeload off of Lily and James. Apparently they have too much money for their own good."

Remus gave a weak laugh, but before he could respond, there was a knock at the door. They all looked at each other in surprise.

"Do you think it's safe?" Lily asked quietly.

"No one knows we're here except Dumbledore, and he told us he would be stopping by soon. It has to be him," James said, standing up to go answer the door. The others stood as well and drew their wands, just in case.

Their precautions were unnecessary. Dumbledore stood in the doorway, grinning at all of them. "Good afternoon," he said happily. "Lovely to see all of you again."

"Come on in," James said, opening the door wider and motioning with his arm. They were all desperate for news. "Can we get you anything?"

"A cup of tea would be lovely, thank you."

They all made their way into the kitchen and took a seat around the table while Lily busied herself by making tea. Dumbledore folded his hands on the table and twiddled his thumbs, humming under his breath to himself. James, Sirius and Remus stared at him, waiting for him to say something, anything, about what had been going on in the outside world while they had been hiding in the house.

"So…" Sirius said, looking expectantly at Dumbledore. He had always been the most impatient.

Dumbledore smiled. "I suppose that I can rightly assume that the 4 of you have no idea about what has been going on in the past few days?"

They all murmured their agreement as Lily carried over the tray of tea and joined them at the table.

"Thank you Lily," Dumbledore said, helping himself to a cup. "Well then, I suppose I will start with the good news. Voldemort does indeed seem to be gone, at least for now. The entire wizarding world seems to have turned into one big celebration. Everywhere you look there is a feast or party of some sort."

"So everyone's out there celebrating the fall of Voldemort?" Lily asked. It was hard to imagine people openly showing their excitement about this after the fear that they had all lived in for the past eleven years. A few days ago, no one would have dared show their anti-Voldemort feelings so publicly.

"The fall of Voldemort, yes," Dumbledore agreed. "And the role that Harry played in it."

All eyes turned to the one year old boy who was still sitting on Remus' lap, oblivious to the fact that he was now famous.

"So everyone knows?"

Dumbledore nodded grimly. "They're calling him The Boy Who Lived."

"This can't be good," James frowned. "Everyone will know his name. He'll be famous for something he won't even remember. How are we supposed to raise him like that? What are we supposed to tell him? We don't want the fame to get to his head."

"Especially if he's anything like James was as a teenager," Sirius added with a laugh. James glared at him, but didn't argue. He knew that he had been a big-headed jerk as a teen, but he had changed since then. Lily had made sure of that.

"I can't tell you how to raise your son," Dumbledore said. "But I do agree that exposure to so much fame will not be good for him."

"I suppose we'll have to deal with that when we get to it," James sighed. "So what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that there are still Death Eaters out there. Some have been caught, some have turned themselves in, claiming to have been Imperiused, and others are on the run. I think that most of 

them are fleeing the country. A few were caught in France. The Aurors are doing their best to find them, but until they do I think that it is best that all of you keep yourselves out of harm's way."

"What about Peter? Have they found him?" Sirius asked.

"Not yet. And if he turned himself into a rat like you said, I don't know if they ever will. As long as he is smart enough to remain in his Animagus form, it will be almost impossible to find him."

Sirius looked angry, but didn't press the matter.

"So Dumbledore," James said. "When are you going to tell us why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry?"

Dumbledore looked grave. "Ah yes," he murmured. "That is quite an important question. I think it would be best if I spoke to you and Lily alone about this one, as you are Harry's parents."

Remus and Sirius stood to leave, but James held up his hand. "No. They're Harry's family too."

Dumbledore paused, considering them for a moment, then nodded. "On a rainy night two years ago at the Hog's Head Inn, I was interviewing a woman for the Divination post at Hogwarts. I personally think that the subject is ridiculous, but this woman claimed to be the great-great-granddaughter of the famous Seer Cassandra Trelawney, so I thought it would be polite to meet with her. I was disappointed. It was obvious that she had no trace of the gift herself. So I told her, courteously I hope, that she did not fit the position. I turned to leave. But before I could, she spoke again. Her voice had changed, and when she spoke, she made a prophecy."

He paused here, and appeared to be racking his memory. None of the others spoke. They were too curious about what was coming next.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Everyone was silent, letting this new information sink in.

"So that means Harry?" James asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Curiously enough, it did not necessarily mean Harry. There was another boy who fit the criteria—Neville Longbottom."

"So then it might not be Harry at all!" Lily said angrily. She was very distraught about the fact that the prophecy said 'either must die at the hand of the other' and it was talking about her baby boy.

"Actually, I am quite sure that the prophecy is referring to Harry."

"But you just said—"

"You're forgetting a key part," Dumbledore said patiently. "The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. That is exactly what he did when he gave Harry that scar. Voldemort chose the boy who he thought would be more of a threat and attempted to kill him."

"So were the Longbottoms under the same protection as us? In case Voldemort went after Neville?" James asked.

"My source from Voldemort's inner circle informed me that he had taken the prophecy to mean Harry. I knew that he would be coming after him, not Neville."

"They could still be targeted, even now," James snapped. He and Lily were very close with Frank and Alice through their involvement in the Order of the Pheonix. "You should have them join us here, just in case."

"That can be arranged," Dumbledore said, nodding. James seemed satisfied.

"Wait," Remus said slowly. "How did Voldemort even find out about the prophecy?"

Dumbledore sighed. "The Hog's Head attracts quite a collection of people. There was a Death Eater there who overheard the prophecy. Luckily, he was thrown out before he could hear the ending, but I think we can rightly assume he relayed what he heard immediately to Voldemort."

"So either Harry will kill Voldemort, or Voldemort will kill Harry?" Sirius asked, looking at his one-year-old godson with awe.

"According to the prophecy, yes. But very few prophecies are actually fulfilled. It doesn't necessarily mean that that's what is going to happen in the future."

"But isn't the point of the prophecy basically that the only person who has the power to defeat Voldemort is Harry?"

"Yes."

"So either Harry defeats him, or no one does," Lily said quietly. Dumbledore didn't answer.

James put his face in his hands. He didn't understand why this had to be happening to his family. "What are we supposed to tell Harry? That the future of the wizarding world is resting on his shoulders?"

"I think he has a right to know about the prophecy," Dumbledore said. "The hard part will be deciding when he is ready to hear it."


End file.
